The Only Reasonable Response

"Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry come to you! Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress! Incline your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call! For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and has withered; I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake; I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass." - Psalms 102:1-11

I want to start of with a question. If a Christian is "saved by grace through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9), then why are Christians worried about how they act? Could it be that the Christian has begun to depend upon their works for salvation? I hope not, for the Bible says, "we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isaiah 64:6a). Lets talk of the Christian who is sincere in their faith; why are they walking according to disciplines, rules, and standards they consider Christian? The Bible says works do not save us, so why do them? The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Most of us know grace is unmerited favor, but if faith is the medium by which we are given grace, we must now inquire about the true meaning of faith. Is faith in Jesus Christ a prayer pleading that the holy spirit would enter one's life? Is faith wearing a Christian T-shirt everywhere you go? Is faith having "christian" under your Facebook info? Or is faith nearly synonymous with works? Could it be that the two are inseparable? We know faith brings salvation, and not works, but does it logically follow that works are not involved in faith? If I believe that a chair can hold my weight, but I never sit in the chair, have I yet put my faith in that chair? Or is the faith only true once such faith has inclined someone to do something? Is faith that does not bring about change true faith?

"For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love" (2 Peter 1:5-7). This passage starts with the words "for this very reason." If you glance back at 2 Peter 1:3-4, the author is simply making notice of a Christians salvation through the work of Jesus. Peter first points out that he wants Christians to supplement faith with virtue (or works), but for what reason? Well he tells us in the prior verses: because we are a saved people. In essence, Peter is saying act your faith because what other response is there? What other response to salvation should a Christian have except complete contempt for worldliness and absolute desire for righteousness?

Peter goes on to say, "whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall" (2 Peter 1:9-10). Christians do not practice righteous qualities for the sake of boasting about them or being seen as righteous, they practice them because they desire to practice them. The Christian is a servant to Christ, and a servant serves his master out of love. We do not serve because we want to please others but because we want to please Christ and we desire to hear the words "well done good and faithful servant."

My friends, seek God today because you want to; because deep inside you is a desire to do so; because you want to understand why Jesus died for you. When you have found inside yourself a prideful heart that is getting in the way of true communion with God, cast it out, that relationship with, and understanding of Christ may be renewed. Allow the Holy Spirit to live through you and quit trying to live through yourself. When we live through ourselves, we are glorified; when the Holy spirit lives through us, Christ is glorified.